Descendants One-Shots and Drabbles
by Dragonheart77
Summary: A whole collection, because Dragon's too lazy to make them all their own stories. Most feelsy, some cheesy, all/almost all amusing. Kind of an exercise in limiting myself to shorter stories. Mostly just compliance with the muse. OCs are liable to come into play.
1. Coming of Age

**I have no idea where this came from or why, but there's a Muse for you. I blame Carella for this. It turned from a one-shot into a two-shot and I had to veto it back to a one-shot again, which only works about 40% of the time, to be perfectly honest with you. In any case. There are probably more one-shots and/or drabbles coming, so I'll just leave this open as a collection of them.**

 **Please keep in mind that I have NOT read any of the Descendants books yet, so any inconsistencies with the books are not my fault. Feel free to point them out with a PM, and I'll make a note of it for future reference.**

 **Most of these will be feelsy, a lot will be cheesy, a few may be museless me trying to force Carella to get her head back in the game so I apologize for those, and most if not all of them will have some level of humor (dark or otherwise) in them, because I like to be able to read my old work and laugh. I like making people laugh.**

 **Word Count: 2,235**

* * *

It must have been something like eight in the morning when she found out.

Honestly, Mal would have woken up later, but she didn't have much of a choice. Once Evie was up, Mal was up, whether she liked it or not. Despite her complaints that she was never allowed to sleep in on the weekends, she garnered little sympathy from her roommate, who continued to be up bright and early, despite everything. Of course, Mal supposed that one _had_ to be up bright and early when one did as much preening as Evie did in the morning. To be fair, that wasn't entirely her fault - old habits died hard, and years of them from living with the Evil Queen were no exception.

Actually, Mal was complaining about that very thing - getting up too early, not living with the Evil Queen, of course - when her brush caught on something in her hair. Expecting a tangle, she tried to tug it loose and smooth it out, but it refused to budge. She rolled her eyes in exasperation and tossed the brush onto the table, reaching up with both hands to find the knot and why it was being so stubborn, never missing a beat in her friendly argument with Evie.

She did not find a knot. What her fingers found was something hard and rather firmly rooted into her scalp, which refused to budge and ached a little when she pushed at it. Confused, she leaned forward to look in the mirror, unsure what to think of this.

When she moved her violet hair aside, she found a small, dark nub of bony material poking out of her skull. Sudden, irrational panic swept through her, and she turned her head, searching. Sure enough, there was a second such nub, exactly symmetrical to the first, on the other side of her scalp.

Horns.

"Mal?" Evie asked, and Mal realized that the other girl had said her name several times after the fairy had abruptly stopped in the middle of her sentence. She looked up to find her roommate looking at her with concern. "You okay?"

Mal started to shake her head, and Evie was next to her almost before she could blink. "What's wrong?" She took Mal's face in her hands, searching for the answer to that question.

"E-evie," she stuttered, taking her roommate's hands and moving them up to the small knots of horn at the top of her head.

Evie's face transformed to confusion as she touched them. "Mal, what..." She trailed off as it dawned on her. "Horns?"

Mal nodded, pale. "Like..." _Like my mother._

A knock on the door interrupted her. Ben's voice came through, muffled, "Mal? Evie? You awake?"

Mal slapped a hand across Evie's mouth to silence her. "What do I tell him?" she hissed, panic flashing in her green eyes.

Evie blinked, taken aback. "The truth," she whispered after a moment. "It's the only thing you _can_ tell him." Pulling away gently, she went to the door and opened it for Ben.

"Thanks, Ev-" He stopped, took one look at Mal and went to her, knowing immediately that something was wrong. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, ducking away. "Nothing, it's nothing."

Ben caught her arm. "It's not nothing. Even I can tell that. Now what's wrong?"

Mal exchanged a glance with Evie helplessly. The look in her eyes was almost one of fear. After a few seconds, it was Evie who spoke, slowly, so that Mal could stop her if she wanted to. "Mal's horns are coming in."

Ben blinked, taken by surprise. "Your... horns?"

She nodded reluctantly, reaching up and pulling her hair aside so he could see the dark spot. "It's a common thing with dark fairies," Evie added after a moment, since Mal didn't seem inclined to explain. "It's usually a sign of coming of age, when they show up. It's usually celebrated on their next birthday, or something."

"But that sounds like a good thing," he said, confused. "Why are you so upset about it?"

"Because I'm going to look like - like _her,_ " she blurted out finally. "I'm going to look like my mother. The horns are, like, her signature _thing,_ since there really aren't that many dark fairies left anymore, and now I'm going to have them and no one is going to be able to look at me without thinking of her! Because that wasn't true enough already!" She pulled away, pacing across the room to stare blindly out the window. "I was hoping I wouldn't have them," she admitted, her voice hoarse. "I was hoping I might be able to pretend to be totally human. To forget... forget who my mother is."

Ben felt a small push from between his shoulder blades, and turned to see Evie waving him forward. _Scared,_ she mouthed, and suddenly he understood. Mal wasn't this worried about what other people were going to think. She was worried about what _he_ was going to think. She was scared he would reject her.

He came up softly behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "It doesn't matter, Mal," he promised. "You're not your mother. I don't care if you grow horns. Heck, I don't even care if you turn into a dragon completely. I love you. That's not going to change."

She managed a quick, tight smile. "Thank you," she murmured, finally letting him pull her into a hug. "I'm just... ugh. I don't know. It's hard enough being the daughter of the Mistress of All Evil _without_ a reminder literally over my head all the time. And I really don't know what I'm going to say when people start noticing on their own."

"You'll think of something," Evie promised, coming up on her other side to hug her.

* * *

Unfortunately, she still hadn't thought of something two weeks later, when the first person noticed. She managed to brush Lonnie off relatively easily - frankly, the other girl didn't want to question it - but it went downhill from there. By the time a month had passed, her new horns were almost two inches long, still dull, but very visible, and whispers were flying around Auradon Prep. Mal, of course, could do little about it. She just had to try to ignore it for as long as she could.

Audrey, of course, was the worst. She didn't dare confront Mal directly - not after the first time she tried that brilliant plan, which resulted in several bruises, a broken nail, an unfortunate toad spell, and a trip to the Fairy Godmother for both girls - but she could still spread rumors. It was almost too easy for her to start the story that Maleficent's (heavy hint: Mal's) horns were, quote, "an outward manifestation of her inner evil," close quote. (Evie, upon hearing this, made a snide remark about how long it must have taken Audrey to look up the definitions of "all those big words," which almost got a book thrown at her head.)

Naturally, Mal wasn't quite alone. She had the other three "villain kids," who stuck together like always. Ben, as he had promised, stayed loyal to her. A lot of the tourney jocks liked Jay, so even if they didn't exactly stick up for Mal, they at least for the most part tried to stay clear of the bashing going on. A few of the girls that traded beauty/fashion tips (not to mention homework help) with Evie actually managed to protest Audrey's spreading lies once or twice. Still, Mal could feel the stares, the uncertainty. Even the adults looked at her differently, no matter how open-minded they thought they were. After a month and a half, she almost gave Ben's parents a heart attack when they came to visit - apparently they hadn't expected her horns to have grown to easily three and a half inches already.

To be fair, neither had she. Her horns were growing incredibly fast, for horns - and they itched like mad. It was Evie who was finally brave enough to point out she was tearing her own scalp up with all her scratching. Mal could stop while she was awake, but more than one morning she woke up with dried blood under her fingernails from scratching in her sleep. Evie confessed to Ben one day that she was concerned it had to do with how much Mal hated the horns themselves, despite Mal's insistence that that wasn't the problem.

"She's got magic in her blood," she explained. "It may not crop up much like some people, but when it has to do with an internally focused hatred, it tears her apart from the inside out. She won't admit it. If this doesn't stop soon, it may _never_ stop, no matter what Mal says."

"Not good," he guessed.

"Not good," she agreed with a sigh. "I've been worried about this a long time, to be honest, but I didn't think it would be this bad."

He looked at her askance. "You knew this would happen?"

Evie blinked. "Well - yeah. We all knew it would probably happen eventually. It was really a question of when."

"Why didn't anyone ever mention it?"

She frowned. "I don't know. I think we all kind of forgot about it - I mean, with the exchange program, and the wand fiasco, and confronting Maleficent, we were a little preoccupied. It didn't seem important at the time. It wouldn't have been a big deal on the Isle. Actually, she probably would have been proud of her horns if we'd stayed on the Isle. They were a mark of evil, a mark of her coming of age, and honestly, they wouldn't have been that strange. We might have thrown a party, if Jay could have lifted the stuff we needed for it."

He smiled sidelong at her, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking," he said, "that we remind her what her horns are supposed to mean."

"I don't follow you."

"They're a sign of her coming of age, right?"

"Well... generally, yes," she agreed slowly.

"Then let's remind her of that."

Evie's eyes lit up as it dawned on her what he was thinking of. Ben suddenly was reminded of her mother, the Evil Queen, as schemes and plots and plans danced behind those blue eyes. "You know," she said slyly, clapping him on the shoulder, "you're not so good yourself."

"Is that meant to be a compliment?"

"Just take it as one."

* * *

"Come on," Evie giggled, tugging her best friend along.

"Evie, wait," Mal complained, blinded by the hand her roommate held over her eyes. "You're going to run me into a wall, I know it."

"No, I won't," she promised. "Hurry up!"

"Evie, I'm going to turn you into a tortoise," she threatened. "Then we'll see who's telling who to hurry up."

Evie just laughed and pulled her along faster.

When Mal was finally allowed to open her eyes, she found herself in a dark room. Evie had vanished. "Poison apples, Evie, what are you -"

" _Surprise!_ " a dozen voices yelled, making her jump out of her skin. The lights flicked on, and Mal found herself surrounded by smiling faces - Evie, Jay, Carlos (and, of course, the omnipresent Dude), Doug, Jane, and several others she recognized.

Arms encircled her from behind, and Ben set his chin on her shoulder. "Surprise," he murmured in her ear.

She laughed, leaning back to look at him better. "What's the occasion?"

He flicked his fingers above her head, and she could feel the click of his fingers against one small horn. "Horns are a dark fairy's coming of age, remember?"

She blinked in surprise, as if unable to process that. "You wanted to... celebrate this?"

"Of course," Evie said with a smile. "It's not something to be ashamed of, Mal. If other people can't understand that, it's their problem."

"Back on the Isle, we wouldn't have had such a big party," Jay admitted.

"Back on the Isle, you would have been stealing all the supplies," Mal reminded him with a laugh. He shrugged helplessly, as if to ask, _What can I say?_ "Ben - Evie - it's very sweet of you all to want to help, but -"

"No buts," Ben stopped her, putting a finger to her lips. "Tonight is your night, and we'll do whatever you want to, because we're celebrating who you are - not your father, not your mother, _you_ \- and it's time you accepted that and learned to enjoy it."

"All right, all right," she said with a smile. "I'll have a good time, if it'll make you all happy." And she did, and they were, and that was that, and it was one of the best nights in all of their lives.

(But the itching did stop, which made Evie very happy, although she managed to keep the I-told-you-sos to herself.)

* * *

 **Reviews, please! Let me know your favorite line(s), or where I made you laugh, or any funny stories of reactions IRL, along with the usual actual usable review. ;3 Also, do you guys like the slightly longer, more conversational ANs I have an inclination to put at the beginnings (if not the ends) of chapters/stories, or would you prefer I kept it as brief as possible? Thanks for reading!**


	2. Evie and Snow

**By request of BackBecky, a chapter with Evie and Snow White. Thank you for the open request, which was actually perfect to spark inspiration and start a one-shot. I'm totally open to requests, by the way - I meant to mention that in the first chapter and forgot. Send me anything you'd like to see, although I reserve the right to refuse with or without explanation.**

 **So setting - let's just say they have Parents' Day once a term in Auradon XD It's convenient, not going to lie.**

 **Word Count: 1,065**

* * *

Evie laughed at Jay and Carlos as they practically drowned themselves in the chocolate fountain, darting in with a strawberry or grape whenever she could without getting splashed and ruining her outfit. She rolled an apple under the stream so half of it was covered in chocolate before escaping to a safe distance again. "Stop!" she shrieked. "You're making fools out of yourselves." The boys cheerfully ignored her, and she shook her head, taking a bite out of the chocolate-covered side of her apple. Honestly, she couldn't blame them. None of the 'villain kids' had ever had chocolate before coming to Auradon, though they had managed to snatch the extremely rare sweet, and none of them could get enough of it. It was just a matter of how polite they were about it.

A giggle reached her from the other side, and she turned. "Well, Mal, back from talking with..." She stopped, blinking at the face she found. "Um. You're not Mal," was all she could think to say.

"No, I'm not," the woman agreed. Unfortunately, Evie recognized her. Her picture was pinned up on the dartboard in Evie's mother's castle, and even with all the holes poked in it by the darts, knives, shurikens, and other assorted deadly weapons which had been propelled at it, the iconic face was still recognizable. "I'm Snow White," she introduced herself, completely unnecessarily.

"I know," Evie said without thinking. "I mean - I - Evie," she said helplessly.

"Yes, I suppose you would," Snow White conceded with a nod. "I imagine your mother has told you all about me, hasn't she?"

Evie nodded slowly, flushing. There was an awkward silence as she fumbled, trying to think of something to say.

Snow, ironically, saved her. "So. You're dating Doug."

"How did you -" Of course. Doug was the son of Dopey, one of the seven dwarves. Of course he would have told Snow White; she was practically his aunt.

"Oh, it's all I hear about lately," Snow White laughed. "He was terrified of you at first, you know. And why shouldn't he have been? All he knew about you was that you had been raised by the woman who tried to kill one of his family members." Evie shifted her weight nervously, fiddling with her necklace without realizing she was doing it. Snow glanced away, giving her a graceful excuse to break eye contact, scanning the fruit on the table and plucking a strawberry from the stack, twirling it between her fingers. Casually, she added, "But you wouldn't believe how quickly he became enamored with you in particular. He's hopelessly in love with you." Pausing, she caught a break in the boys' consumption of the chocolate and darted in with all the grace and speed Evie could, sweeping the fruit through the melted chocolate and retreating again.

Evie watched this with fascination. Somehow she had never imagined Snow White as the chocolate-stealing type. (That said, her mother's descriptions of Snow had generally consisted mainly of her vanity and scornful comments pertaining to her appearance and lack of personality, so there you go.) Snow caught her staring, and she glanced away, heat rising to her cheeks again.

"I'm not going to bite you," she promised, and Evie glanced back at her to see amusement sparkling in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Evie apologized. "It's just - I guess I'm a little nervous still, sometimes. With my mother being... you know, the Evil Queen. Seeing how Audrey's grandmother reacted to meeting Mal, it's kind of... unsettling," she admitted. "My mom tried to kill you, more than once."

"Evie, I don't blame you for your mother's actions," Snow White assured her. "I will admit... you remind me of her. But that's not your fault. I don't expect you to change who you are. And I wouldn't want you to - it would break poor Doug's heart all over again. You're not your mother. I know that, even if I do have to remind myself occasionally. And, Evie?" She looked up again, and Snow's heart tugged at the look in her eyes. "You may look like... like the Evil Queen in some ways... but you look happier than she ever did." She paused. "When you're not scared out of your mind that your boyfriend's family is going to shun you, of course."

Evie smiled, a real smile, and Snow gave her a genuine smile too. "You know, technically we _are_ stepsisters," she added as an afterthought.

"Let's not think too hard about that one," Evie immediately replied, shaking her head. "Things get complicated too fast, with the dwarves and my boyfriend and my mom and your stepmom and - should we just draw the line at saying the family tree becomes very tangled very fast?"

"That's probably for the best," Snow White agreed with a smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think Grumpy's about to start a bar fight over there." She rolled her eyes to the heavens. "I love him, but he's a little too - well, _grumpy_ \- for his own good." They shared a laugh, and Snow departed. Evie watched her go for a long moment.

"So," Doug's voice came as he rested his chin on her shoulder, too short to reach the top of her head. She jumped and clipped him in the jaw, but he didn't complain. "What did Snow have to say?"

"How long were you watching?" she asked, leaning her weight back against his chest slightly, taking comfort from the simple touch.

"Long enough." Evie turned her head enough to see him smiling at her. "She's not so bad, you know."

"No," Evie agreed. She sighed contentedly. "I don't think I have much to worry about with your family, you know that? I just feel bad for Mal."

"Yeah, Beast and Belle are a little worried about it," he admitted. "But my family doesn't mind you, they really don't. And I hope it stays that way."

"You know, I think it will," she agreed. "Now let's see if we can manage to stop Jay and Carlos from eating so much chocolate they get sick this time, shall we?" She gave him a kiss on the cheek and the two started off to attempt to do just that. Maybe together, they might even manage it. Love is a powerful thing, after all.

...Maybe not quite _that_ powerful.

* * *

 **Yes, I do enjoy ending on a humorous note. Frankly, it gives me an easy way to end shorts. Anyway.**

 **It should be noted that I will soon be starting a chapter fic for Descendants. I have no idea what I'll end up calling it, but it involves a new set of villain kids with some _wicked_ cool powers (eh? eh?), several new hero kids, the stealing of a rather important person, and a betrayal that will rock the world of Auradon. Coming soon!**

 **Reviews, please! What you liked, what you didn't, what to improve, favorite lines, and/or suggestions/requests for other one-shots/drabbles! There were way too many backslashes in that phrase... anywho. Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!**


	3. Shy

**Somehow I keep finding time to update this ridiculously fast. Apparently Carella likes one-shots right now. Of course, the requests/suggestions help, giving us something to go off of. Thanks for that!**

 **By request of Miss Baking, a Carlos/Jane chapter. Honestly, I saw that request and was a little worried I wouldn't be able to come up with anything; as it was, I had to stare at the screen for several minutes and read their respective Disney Wiki profiles for several minutes more before I could think of anything. But I managed, and I think it turned out pretty well, considering. Thanks for the request/suggestion!**

 **May I just say that I love playing with the sayings we (and, by extension, the people of Auradon) use and converting them to what the people from the Isle would use? "Evil dreams" (Mal says it to Lonnie immediately after using her tear for the love potion, for those who didn't catch it) was what started me doing that; I adored that line. I have a bad feeling I'm going to start using it among my friends eventually XD Yes, I know that technically they probably shouldn't use those phrases anymore, but I figure it would be force of habit at this point, and it's a nice relic and reminder from their time on the Isle.**

 **Anywho. On to the story.**

 **Word Count: 1,056**

* * *

"She's looking at you again," Evie notified Carlos.

"For the love of all that is evil, _must_ you notify us every time she moves?" Mal grumbled, irritated by the constant stream of information.

Evie ignored her. "Will you please just ask her out?" she demanded softly. Carlos dropped his head into his arms, folded on the table. He muttered something that, while too muffled to understand, was probably along the lines of, "Kill me now." Evie rolled her eyes and stretched out one finger to poke him insistently. "Carlos!"

"Come on, Evie, lay off it," Jay laughed. "He's too scared she'll say no."

"Oh, Carlos!" she complained. "She _obviously_ likes you."

"Yes," Mal piped up, mocking a swoon with a hand over her heart, "surely, after he stole her heart, swept her off her feet, and broke her toes at the ball!" She ducked a swipe, grinning teasingly at Evie.

"You're not helping," Evie told her. "Carlos, really, why -" She coughed suddenly, and he looked up at her to see what was wrong. A mix of amusement and manic glee twinkled in her eyes. "Mal, don't we have a chemistry assignment to get to?"

"Um, not that I -"

"Come on." Mal yelped as Evie dragged her from her seat, mouthing, _Sorry!_ at Carlos as she was tugged away. Carlos realized too late the reason for Evie's swift departure and turned around to find the 'her' in question fidgeting a few feet behind him.

"Um -" He swallowed nervously. "Hi, Jane."

"Hi," she replied. There was an awkward moment of silence before she gestured to the bench. "Do you mind if I..."

"Oh - yeah. I mean, no. I mean - I don't mind."

Jay, next to him, facepalmed. Carlos glared. From across the yard, Evie glared too, which was unsettling. Jay made some excuse about the tourney guys wanting him for something or other and vanished.

More awkward silence as the two tried to avoid eye contact. He wasn't sure why he was so dumbstruck by her. He hadn't talked to her since that night when they had danced - and, yes, he had stepped on her toes a few times. Maybe more than a few.

After a few seconds, Carlos managed, "So... how's school?" He thought he saw Evie and Mal staring at something in Evie's hand, and hoped they hadn't set up a secret camera at the table somehow.

"Fine," she answered. "Well... as fine as it gets, anyway."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I'm kind of almost failing my magic class," she half-whispered, staring down at the table and tracing the grain of the wood with one finger.

Carlos leaned back a little bit, surprised. "But... your mom's the -"

"Fairy Godmother, I know. Don't remind me," she muttered. "It was hard enough before I figured out I had magic. But now she's making me take the class, and it's so much homework and so little actual magic and I don't know what I'm doing and -" She stopped. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go off like that."

"It's fine," he reassured her. "I'm used to it, trust me. With Evie and Mal around... well, I get enough endless talking. You learn to tune out after a while." Jane's eyes dropped away, and he realized what he'd said. "I mean, not that I was tuning you out - I didn't - ugh. I'm sorry." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mal drop her head into her hands and wondered what they were doing over there.

"No, it's fine," she mumbled. "I'm used to it."

"I really was listening," he promised. "And... I think I might be able to help you."

Jane looked up. "Really?"

"Well, maybe. I mean, I'm no sorcerer myself, but if there's anyone who knows about magic in this school, it's Mal." He paused. "Honestly, I'm not sure why she's not in the magic class herself."

"She would blow all the rest of us out of the water," Jane admitted. "Plus... I don't think my mom knows what to do with her magic. It's mostly dark spells, after all - she uses her mom's old spellbook, right?"

"Right," he agreed. "Anyway, I might be able to convince her to tutor you. I know it's a different kind of magic, but Mal might be able to help."

"Could you really do that?" she asked, eyes lit up. He smiled and nodded. She flung her arms around his neck, and he reeled back for a second. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much, Carlos!" She pulled back to beam ecstatically into his face, then seemed to realize that she had just hugged someone she'd danced with a grand total of once. "Um, I'm sorry, I just -"

"It's okay," he laughed, feeling his own jolt of excitement bubble up inside. "And, hey, listen, I've got some free time tonight - do you want to maybe go out for, I don't know, dinner?"

"Um, actually, I have homework," she said apologetically. His heart sank. "But..." she added slowly. "I don't think I'm doing anything on Saturday, if you're open then?"

"Saturday! Yeah, no, I'm - that's great! Saturday's great," he assured her.

"Thanks. I'll see you then." She grinned at him and hurried away, a little bounce in her step. Carlos watched her go with a contented sigh.

A squeal from behind him made him jump out of his skin. Evie threw her arms around his neck, almost choking him in her glee. "Oh, Carlos!"

"'Endless talking'?" Mal demanded. "Tuning us out? And why on _e_ _arth_ would you offer to make me teach her?"

"How did you -" He caught sight of a glint of gold sticking out of Evie's pocket, though she hurriedly tried to hide it, and glared at the two of them. "The mirror! You were listening the whole time?"

"Well... only most of it," Evie hedged. She hugged him again. "But you got a date!"

"All right, enough already. Let him breathe, E," Mal sighed. But she gave him a sideways grin and a wink that let him know she was secretly just as happy as Evie was for him.

"Right, sorry," Evie apologized. And she went on to wax romantic over the upcoming date for nearly an hour.

But that was all right. Carlos was very good at tuning her out, after all.

* * *

 **At some point in the future, I would like to do something with Mal and Ben's parents (yes, Pen's parents. That makes complete sense *eye roll*) in the future, along with maybe something about Mal tutoring Jane (which, of course, she agreed to after several attempts at coersion and at least a couple of bribes on Carlos' part). Which would you guys want to see first?  
**

 **Reviews, please! Thanks for reading, and I'll see y'all next time!**


	4. Parents, Part the First

**First two-shot; here's part one. I'm fighting with part two a bit, or I'd leave it a one-shot, since it ought to end up about 2,000 words total, which is my average chapter length anyhow.**

 **Guest: Of course I take requests. Says that in chapter two XD**

 **Word count: 1,056**

* * *

Evie jumped as the door slammed open and shut. Mal stormed in, throwing her bookbag down on her bed. Evie watched wide-eyed as her best friend threw herself down next to the spilled books, face buried in the bedspread. After a few seconds of silence, Evie quietly closed her book, got up, sat next to her fuming friend, and waited. Eventually, Mal rolled over onto her back and looked at Evie.

"Ben wants me to spend a day with his parents," she said flatly.

Evie blinked. "That's not so bad, M," she sighed, leaning backward. "You've survived days with them before."

"Yeah - always with you guys, or Ben, or _someone_ else there. He wants me to spend a day _alone_ with them." She rubbed her fingers against her temples, tugging on her violet hair. "What am I even supposed to _say_ to them? It's not like we have a lot in common. They're the poster children for goodness, and my mother is the Mistress of All Evil."

"You have Ben in common," Evie pointed out gently. "Isn't he enough reason to at least try to get along with them?"

"I can get along with them," Mal said firmly. "I can get along with them, I can eat dinner with them, I can maybe even make light conversation over dinner with them. I _can't_ spend a whole day alone with them. What do we do? What do I say?"

Evie smiled faintly. "I might be able to help you with figuring out things to say. But you'll have to figure it out yourself, Mal. You need to learn to talk to them now, or things will never be easy between you." Mal groaned and threw one arm over her face. Evie shook her head and patted her shoulder. "I'm going to go talk to Ben. I'll be back in maybe an hour. Don't go anywhere."

* * *

Evie touched up the last of Mal's makeup. "Stop fidgeting," she complained.

"I can't help it," Mal grumbled. She frowned as Evie stretched over and snatched up a little bottle. "What is that?"

"Mineral oil," she explained. "For your horns."

"For my - Evie, no. That's quite enough. They're uncomfortable enough as it is around me," she protested, coming to her feet.

Evie crossed her arms, and Mal knew already that she'd lost. "It's not like they're not visible anyway. You will look your best, top to toe, horns included. Now sit down and stay still." She took an eyedropper and put a drop of mineral oil on her forefinger, rubbing it together with her thumb for a moment before massaging the oil into the short horns peeking through Mal's hair. As the oil sank in, the horns turned deep black, gaining a gloss they hadn't had before. "You haven't been treating them," Evie accused.

"I've been a little distracted," Mal grumbled.

"Or you just don't want to do it. We've talked about this, M."

"Why do you know so much about it, anyway?" the fairy asked, turning to look up at her.

Evie hummed awkwardly. "I... may have done some research when we first got here. I figured I might as well use the library while I had the chance, before, you know, the villains got here and burned and pillaged the place. This was before we changed our minds about the plan, of course. I saw something on dark fairies and read it through. It's turning out to be more useful than I thought."

Mal shook her head. "Nerd," she grumbled playfully, but at least the tension had eased some.

That, of course, was completely nixed by Ben's knock on the door. "Come in," Evie called before Mal could stop her.

Mal's boyfriend smiled at her. "You look beautiful," he assured her.

"Thank you," Mal mumbled. "I'm not sure about this, Ben."

"You'll be fine," he promised, waving goodbye to Evie as they walked out the door and down toward the car that would take her to his parents' place. "Just be yourself."

"'Myself' is not necessarily a person your parents are going to like," she argued.

"They'll learn to love you," he reassured her, pulling her into a hug.

She laughed. "Careful. If you ruin my makeup, Evie's going to kill you. And, Ben?" she asked as she slid into the backseat of the car.

"Yeah?"

"I hope you're right."

He smiled at her and closed the door. She took a deep breath. _No turning back now._

* * *

"Remind me again why we let Ben talk us into this?" Beast asked.

Belle smiled and straightened his tie, a mostly unnecessary gesture. "Because Mal is his girlfriend, and he intends to keep it that way, and he's smart enough to know that that means making us get to know each other." She took her husband's hand. "I know that you didn't like this from the start. I know you didn't want to bring her here in the first place. Neither did I. But she's here now, and hasn't she proven that she's nothing like her mother?"

"I suppose so," he grumbled. "Her actions at the coronation were honorable enough."

The sound of a car driving up outside pulled both of their attentions away. "And she's here now," Belle said, her attempt at levity betrayed by the anxiety underneath her voice.

* * *

"Thanks, I think," Mal told the driver. She stared up at the facade. "Oh, a palace," she muttered to herself as the car pulled away. "E would be thrilled." With a sigh, she started up the stairs.

The door opened just as she raised a hand to knock, and she found herself staring awkwardly into Beast's face. She realized abruptly that he wasn't that much taller than she was, and she was perfectly capable of looking him right in the eye. "Um, hi," she managed.

"Hello, Mal," Beast said, and somehow he made it sound like a jail sentence. "Would you like to come inside? I think Belle has tea ready." He stepped aside, and she entered the palace, all the time the saying 'gilded cage' ringing through her head.

* * *

 **Cutting it off there for now, I think. Part Two will come soon, promise.**


	5. Parents, Part the Second

**Yes, well, slightly museless, also slightly rushed because I wrote a random one-shot, said, "I'll post this when I get home!" then realized, "Oh, wait, I have a two-shot to finish first. _Fluff_ " and had to finish this within 24 hours so I can post the one-shot tomorrow XD All requests, as a result, will be delayed for a few days. Sorry. But this one's here, so hopefully all's well. Right? ...What are you doing with those pitchforks? {Dragon, I think running would be advisable.} Yes, that may be the wisest course of action.**

 **Word count: 1,619**

* * *

"So, Mal," Belle said, breaking the silence. Mal's green eyes settled on her. "What do you do in your spare time?"

"Mal swallowed a bite of her cookie. "Well... I draw a lot. I paint, too, if I can get the supplies." _Better not mention all the graffiti art I left o the Isle. ...Or on my locker._

"Ben tells us you practice magic," Beast said. Belle's chiding glance went unseen by Mal.

 _Oh, Ben, why did you have to mention that?_ "I do," she conceded carefully. "Although sometimes it doesn't work exactly like I want it to. I'm still learning." She paused. "What about you? What do you do for fun?"

"I love reading," Belle said. "I read as much as I can, really. Beast's first real gift to me was a library," she laughed. Her laugh was so honest that Mal couldn't help but smile in return. "I'd love to learn to paint, but I've never been able to."

Beast hesitated, as if unsure what to say. "I enjoy fencing," he said finally. "Though I practice different kinds of combat, too."

Mal perked up at this. This was something she understood, at least. "What kinds of weapons do you use?"

"Swords, mostly, but also bows, knives, and hand-to-hand combat," he replied. "Do you fence?"

"I don't know about fencing, but I can fight. Though Jay's better with a blade than me," she admitted. An idea occurred to her; she stared at the remains of the pastry in her hand for a second before coming to a decision. Ben's words rang in her head: _Just be yourself._ She put her free hand flat out on the table. "How about a match? Just you and me?"

He blinked, taken by surprise. "You want to... fight me?"

"Oh, no, not fighting," she assured him. "Do you people really never duel?"

Belle and Beast exchanged an uncertain glance. "Duels are taken very seriously here, Mal," Belle said. "They're a matter of honor, usually."

Mal snorted. "It's how we settle a lot of things on the Isle. Fights, arguments, friendly competition, introductions gone more or less wrong. It's one of the reasons you don't walk around without a weapon of some kind on you. So." She arched an eyebrow at him. "You up for it?"

After several seconds, he extended a hand, which she shook firmly. His grip was strong, but she suspected hers was stronger than he'd expected too. "All right, then. Weapons?"

She shook her head, her smile suddenly reminding him of her mother. "Oh, no. Not so fast. We do this like we do on the Isle."

* * *

Ten minutes later, the two of them stood at opposite ends of the practice room, each armed with a light sword. Mal circled, done talking. She darted in without warning and he parried; she had to admit he was fast. But it took him by surprise when she slashed at him and left a shallow slice on his bicep, the tip of her blade coming away bloody.

"No holds barred," she warned with a wicked, exhilarated grin.

He narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Have it your way." And the real fun began.

Slowly, she forced him to step outside his comfort zone, the formality of the duels he was used to draining away to primal, full speed fighting. Mal was no master swordswoman, but she held her own against her bigger, stronger opponent. And, as she hoped, she felt the walls between them dropping as they danced and wove, dodge, attack, parry, strike, recoil. Yes, _this_ was how to get to know someone, with sweat and steel and a bit of blood, not with words and all that civilized muck. How someone fought, how they moved and struck in battle, could tell you loads about them.

In the end, she simply wasn't a match for him. The duel ended, as she had, honestly, expected, with a sharp blade at her throat. She stepped away gracefully and bowed. "Thank you."

"No," he said thoughtfully, touching his sore shoulder, "thank you." For the first time, he gave her an honest smile, and she knew that while he may have won the duel, she had won a far more important battle.

Of course, Belle would not be so easy to win over. One could hardly expect her to pick up a sword, and even if she did, Mal sensed that that would not be the way to her heart. But she had said something that Mal remembered, something she thought might be of use in gaining Ben's mother's approval.

 _So she wants to learn to paint._

* * *

"You didn't eat much at dinner," Belle commented.

Mal shrugged. "Guess I wasn't hungry," she lied, stomach growling. "It definitely wasn't your cooking, if that's what you're worried about." That much was true, at least.

"I must admit, you've been a bit more... well, a bit _more_ than we were expecting, if you know what I mean," Belle confessed as Mal moved about the room, watching from her chair.

Mal smiled at her over her shoulder. "Fair enough. You learn a lot of things growing up on the Isle that you just don't in Auradon, I guess." She found what she was looking for but had to stretch to reach it.

Belle hesitated, then said softly, "If you don't mind my asking... what is it like there? The Isle of the Lost, I mean."

Mal sighed. "No magic, no wi-fi, and no way out. Best entertainment we ever got was the fights that broke out between villains. Other than that? Just peachy."

"Mal," Belle said, and the tone of her voice made the girl turn to find the retired queen looking at her with a strange, almost pleading expression. "Please... the truth. I want to know."

Mal stopped moving for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, she dropped Belle's gaze and said softly, "Very dark, very run-down, and very vicious. Most people don't have enough food. Most of the villains neglect, use, or abuse their kids. Almost everyone is involved in some sort of gang activity. No one is ever happy. No one is ever loved. Most of the kids have never tasted sugar or sweetness in their lives." She looked up, old resentment coming to the surface again. "Because we lived on your scraps. We call it the Island of the Leftovers, because that's all we ever got. We survived off of whatever the people here in Auradon didn't want or need. So yes, I leave half my meals now. Yes, I throw away food and clothes and other things long before I need to. Because I remember what it's like to have to scrounge through other peoples' _garbage_ to find whatever real food I could, to never have enough for a decent meal. I remember what it's like to watch fights start over table scraps - to _start_ fights over table scraps. Auradon's forgotten what it's like to have it hard." She shook her head, turning away. "And maybe the villains deserve it. I don't know. But there aren't just villains there now." Mal paused, reaching up to pull something down, and added quietly, "That's why we hated you so much. That's really the reason we wanted to free the villains and destroy Auradon. Sure, yeah, it was to make our parents proud, but really? We wanted revenge for the way we grew up. It made us tough, but it wasn't worth it."

Belle was silent for a long time, and Mal gave half a scornful laugh. "I'm sorry, was that too much? You were the one who said you wanted to know," she reminded her as she turned around.

She was surprised to find Belle's shoulders slack, tears sparkling in her eyes. "I did..." she whispered. "but I didn't realize it was that bad."

Mal stood there for a second, uncertain what to do, and belatedly realized that this might not have been a good day to go off on this rant. She sighed and took the easel under her arm over to Belle, setting it up in front of her. "Look, forget it. What's done is done, right? You can't do anything about it now, and neither can I. Let's just focus on the painting, all right?"

Belle nodded, but Mal could tell she was still thinking about what Mal had said. Still, slowly, she began to focus on what Mal was teaching her instead.

At the end of an hour, the sun was setting and the tension between the two had eased somewhat. Before she left, Belle took Mal's hands in hers and promised that she would look into affairs on and to do with the Isle, see what she could do about things. In return, Mal promised to keep teaching her how to paint.

Ben smiled and leaned over to kiss her cheek as she slid into the car. "Well, you're still here, I can see both of my parents waving from the window, and neither of them appears to have been turned into a rodent, so I assume things went relatively well."

"Ben!" she protested. "I wouldn't turn them into rodents! Probably," she added weakly as he gave her a sideways smile. "And yes... 'relatively well' is a good term." She settled back into her seat as he pulled away, heading back toward Auradon Prep. "It's a start."

* * *

 **Ta-da. Are my endings weak, or is that just me being overly critical?**

 **Reviews, please! Thanks for reading, and I'll see y'all next time!**


	6. Temptation

**This isn't a request (sorry, guys), but rather something that popped into my head which I had to write down. The next chapter will probably be a request, unless Carella decides to go off on another tangent like this one. I hope the fact that it's a bit longer than most of these have been, and probably a good bit more museful than some of them, will help atone for that. (Also the fact that I'm updating within 24 hours of my last update, which I try not to do so I don't set the bar too high for myself to keep up with XD)**

 **Really quick random side note, last night I retreated to my room and watched all five episodes of _Descendants: Wicked World_ that are out, and it ended out a bit like the main movie - at first, I thought it was kind of silly/stupid, but as I kept watching I got absorbed somehow and now I really want the next episode. Can I just say that I adore the character of Freddy Facilier, even after just four lines (I think) of knowing her. I desperately want an excuse to reference her IRL - "Okay, Freddy, retract your claws." "Aw, but I just had them sharpened." {Dragon. Focus, please.} Right. Sorry. The point is, I'm up to date on the Wicked World-verse (which unfortunately is not really compatible with my chapter fic, but we'll ignore that) and I'll be using some of the language they do and referencing (and who knows? Maybe Freddy will make it into some one-shots).**

 **Anyway, I was talking about the song _Evil Like Me_ with a friend of mine IRL (who also happens to be my designated personal cheerleader and the one who encouraged me to post my Descendants fics on here in the first place) and it occurred to me that one line in particular caught my attention and interest: "This was not for us to ponder, this was preordained." (Well, that and "You should thank your lucky stars/That you were born the girl you are,/The daughter of an evilicious queen like me!" mainly because "evilicious" struck me as very much being a Glinda-word, and you can't convince me that that wasn't a subtle reference back to Chenowith's arguably most famous role as Galinda/Glinda in Broadway's _Wicked._ ) That line made me think of how convinced Mal was at the beginning of Descendants that she WOULD be a villain because her mother was, and how those fears almost kept her from choosing good. That ended up somehow combining with the utterly random question someone in my head posed - "Hey, whatever happened to Maleficent's staff?" - to produce this. Ta-da!**

 **Without further ado... Word count: 1,714**

* * *

" _This was not for us to ponder –_

 _This was preordained."_

~Maleficent

Mal stared at the black scepter sitting in the corner, green stone glittering, taunting her. She could hear it calling her, a faint hum that was all too obvious in the silence of the otherwise empty room. She could ignore it during the day, but it was impossible to deny at times like these, when all was quiet and she was alone with the cursed thing.

The Fairy Godmother had found it after the chaos at the coronation, lying discarded at the foot of the stairs. She had given it to Mal for safekeeping, as a gesture of trust and forgiveness for almost destroying Auradon. The staff, being a part of Maleficent's magic, was absorbed into the dark fairy's dragon form, but the Fairy Godmother told Mal that her spell, in forcing her mother into a different form, had likely caused the scepter to expel itself from Maleficent's magicked form as it rebelled against the foreign magic. There was only one problem with that theory, and only Mal and the other villain kids were aware of it: her magic wasn't foreign to the scepter.

Magic ran in a dark fairy's blood, and those who shared blood – families – could use each others' items of power, unless they were specifically charmed otherwise. Maleficent's staff had no such charm on it. The staff had always held appeal to Mal. She had wanted little more than to hold it and be allowed to use it for most of her life on the Isle, but her mother had never allowed her to so much as lay a finger on it. Except that one night in the museum... Mal still wasn't sure if she had imagined that or if her mother had actually sent her a vision. Either way, she had always wanted to use the scepter, but it had never called to her as it was doing now.

And it was that night in the museum that was haunting her. Some of the things her vision of Maleficent had said... she had told Mal in no uncertain terms that it was her fate to follow in her mother's footsteps. Mal had finally begun to shake that belief off... and now the staff.

As if it sensed her thoughts, the scepter's hum grew stronger, more insistent. She could feel it pulling her toward it, feel her own magic responding to the call. Without realizing it, she started to rise to her feet.

A knock on the door brought her back to her senses. "Mal?" Ben's muffled voice came through the door. She shook her head. "Are you in there?"

"Yeah," she said. "Come in; the door's unlocked." He did so, and found her sitting with her chin propped up on her knees. "You all right?"

"Fine." She caught his reproving look and sighed. "All right, no, I'm not."

"Your mom's staff again?" he guessed, glancing at the object in question uneasily.

She nodded glumly. "Yeah. I don't understand it. I can't seem to shake it off, this feeling that... that it's whispering in my ear, trying to pull me back to..." She trailed off.

"Back to evil," he finished quietly. She nodded again, and he sat down next to her. "You're not your mother, Mal. You chose good. No staff can change that."

"You don't understand," she said, getting up and pacing. "It's _calling_ me, constantly, and there's a part of me that wants it so, _so_ badly. I try to ignore it, but I can't – it's always there, in the back of my head. It gets easier with distance, but... I don't know why the Fairy Godmother gave it to me. It was a mistake. But she won't take it back; I tried."

Ben stood as well, watching her pace anxiously. "What makes you so sure it's not just the scepter's presence itself?"

"Because of this," she said, moving to the staff in one stride and snatching it up, partly to make her point... partly because she couldn't stand the constant calling anymore.

Power exploded through her, cold energy sliding through her veins, waking her own innate magic and interweaving it with that of the staff. The gem glowed bright, brilliant, and she knew her own eyes were glowing as well for a moment before fading again as the initial surge of magic subsided. She tried to let go of it, but her fingers didn't want to release it, her magic and her body fighting her. One finger at a time, she pulled away, throwing the staff down, back into its place. There was still a current of renewed energy flowing through her, but she knew that would wear itself out within a day. "That's why," she breathed, gasping for air with the effort it had taken to force herself to release all that power. It was easy to see why Maleficent had only gotten wrapped up more and more in evil, with the amount of magic her scepter had come to contain. It was infectious, and it was corrosive. Mal covered her face with her hands, trying to beat back the want, the _need_ to take it up again, stumbling as she made herself move away from the source of the call. She felt Ben's arms wrap around her, coming between her and the scepter despite the fact that she knew it made him uncomfortable to be near it, holding her close. Mal buried her face in his chest. "I can't," she whispered. "That staff is pure evil, and it's _so_ strong, and I _want_ it even though I know I shouldn't, and my mother..."

He took her over to her bed and sat down, pulling her down next to him so that she was almost in his lap. She explained to him about the night at the museum, when she had almost managed to steal the wand, and how her mother had appeared to her. She told him what the apparition of Maleficent had said, and confessed her continuing fears that she couldn't _help_ but turn evil. At some point, the tears started flowing, and they didn't stop.

Ben let her cry herself out, rocking her against his chest. "Mal?" he asked eventually, when she had finally quieted. She looked up, and he brushed a residual tear from her cheek gently with his thumb. "The fact that you're afraid of becoming evil at all tells me just how good you are," he told her. She sniffled, and he continued. "You may share blood with Maleficent, but your hearts are different. Your magic is the same, but your thoughts are nothing alike. Now let me tell you a story.

"Once upon a time, not so far away and not so long ago, there was a boy. His parents were very wise, and they tried to teach him right and wrong, good and evil. But the little boy didn't completely understand, and sometimes he did bad things he didn't realize were bad.

"One day, the boy's father came to him and gave him a bag. In the bag, his father said, was a powerful evil thing. His father told him that he must never open the bag, must never touch what was inside, for it was very powerful and it might make him do bad things.

"Now, the boy didn't think about why his father was giving him this, but he promised never to open the bag. He kept it in his room, on a shelf, where he could see it every day and congratulate himself on how clever he was, how brave, for keeping it so close and yet not opening it. But after a few weeks, he grew bored of this, and began to wonder what was inside, and what it could do.

"So one night, he couldn't bear his curiosity anymore. He snuck out of bed and over to the bag, and he opened it."

He stopped, and Mal asked, curious despite herself, "Well? What was in it?"

Ben leaned close and whispered in her ear, "Absolutely nothing."

She blinked at him. "What?"

"You heard me. Naturally, the boy was rather indignant. In the morning, he ran down to his father and confronted him about it. 'There was nothing in that bag,' he asked. 'Why did you tell me there was something evil in it?' And do you know what his father said?" Mal shook her head, unsure what to make of this. "He told the boy, 'I gave you that bag so that you would know what temptation was, so you might understand the people who give in to the temptation of the power of evil. Evil is very hard to resist. It's not ugly and obvious, like most people think. It's often very beautiful, and always very tempting, and it sneaks in the back door when you're not looking.'"

He looked at Mal again. "That little boy, as you probably guessed, was me. My father wanted to make sure I understood what evil is, what temptation is, and how hard it is to resist. Sometimes, it's impossible. But he also told me how to fight it."

"And what's that?"

"Think of why you chose good," he said. "Think of the things you love, the reasons you chose to stand up to your parents, to live in Auradon and keep going to school here. Think of the things that make it worth it to fight the temptation. If you focus on those," he said, pointing, "that staff won't be able to hurt you, or tempt you. Neither will anything else."

She let out a breath, snuggling against his chest. "I think you're right," she agreed after a few seconds. "I think... I think I understand. And I think sometimes, we need a little temptation, to remind us what life is like for other people."

He nodded, smiling faintly, and when Evie and Doug came back from their date, they found Mal and Ben curled up asleep on the bed together, and Mal's face was more relaxed than Evie had seen her since the coronation. She smiled and tossed a light blanket over the two of them, then led Doug out of the room, shushing him, knowing Mal needed all the sleep she could get.

* * *

 **Quick question, before I leave you for now: My other Descendants fic, which is a chapter fic called _The Good, the Bad, and the Lost_ , doesn't have nearly as many favs, follows, or reviews as this collection. Is there something I can change or something I'm doing wrong on the other one, or is it simply lack of awareness because it hasn't been out as long and I haven't updated it as much? If you guys could let me know, that'd be great :) I just want to give my readers what they want to see and make you guys happy to the best of my ability.**

 **That said, let us voice the traditional request: reviews, please! Thanks for reading, and I'll see y'all next time!**


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